Veterinarians provide medical care to animals.
A veterinarian is a physician with the training necessary to provide healthcare and medical care to animals. Veterinarians can work with small animals and pets, or they may specialize in medical treatment for larger animals such as livestock or horses, or wild animals in zoos and wildlife rehabilitation centers. The work laid out for a veterinarian in a typical workday depends heavily upon the job title and veterinarian specialty.
Function
The primary goal of a veterinarian in any career path is to provide healthcare to animals, but the animals that a veterinarian specializes in can vary. A veterinarian working in a private practice may diagnose health problems, provide vaccinations, medicate sick or injured animals, treat wounds, perform surgery, set fractures, offer advice about animal care and even euthanize animals when it is necessary to do so.
Animal Size
A typical veterinarian may only see companion animals such as reptiles, birds, cats, dogs and rodents. Veterinarians may also specialize in larger animals such as livestock and horses, or even larger animals such as wild animals in wildlife refuges, zoos or even in the wild. The type of animals that a veterinarian serves will play a role in her typical day, because a veterinarian who specializes in domestic cat health and one who specializes in wild tiger health will have a completely different set of concerns.
Advising
A large role that any veterinarian will play has to do with giving advice on health care for the animals that he specializes in. In a private practice setting, a veterinarian will give advice on care and feeding for domestic animals like cats and dogs. In other situations, the veterinarian may dole out advice on feeding and housing issues and animal production, or specific concerns for animals such as whether or not their habitat is sufficient, or breeding concerns in zoos and wildlife rehabilitation centers.
Research
Some veterinarians specialize in research more than hands-on care, and may work in a laboratory or a classroom to further advances in animal medicine. Advances in animal medicine are being innovated on a regular basis as a result of veterinarians filling their workday with researching and recording findings. As part of a veterinarian's day, he should be reporting veterinary medical information so that other animals can benefit from the information.
Expert Insight
"A veterinarian's day is very busy with many different tasks," said Caroline Tanaka, DVM. "We are always learning because so many different animals bring us so many different health issues. What is a typical day for me today will be completely different from the challenges that I face tomorrow, and that is just the nature of veterinary medicine."
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